School of Human and Community Development (ETDs)

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Browsing School of Human and Community Development (ETDs) by Keyword "African men, Black, fatherhood, fatherlessness, South Africa"

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    From Fatherlessness to fatherhood: Experiences of adult Black South African men in the Gauteng Province.
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Senwamadi, Jacob Ramasoane Makgoane John; Matee, Hopolang
    This study aimed to explore the experiences of Black South African first-time fathers who grew up without their biological fathers, as well as how these men perceive their fathers’ absence to have influenced their experiences of fatherhood. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with five Black first-time fathers between the ages of 25-30. The study followed a qualitative explorative design where the participants were recruited using purposive sampling. The findings of the study revealed that some of the first-time fathers had known their biological fathers’ identities during childhood even though they were not physically or financially present in their lives. Furthermore, they did not form any close relationship with them. The participants reported to have experienced rejection from their fathers while growing up. There was a common thread amongst the participants with regards to the need to feel accepted by their biological fathers. This appeared to be a powerful motivational basis for the men’s’ interpersonal experiences. The experience of rejection in childhood has been found to have many negative effects on an individual’s development later in life. This includes increased aggression, increased internalising of difficulties in adolescence, and psychopathological symptoms in adulthood. It has also been found that individuals with this experience are more likely to hold distorted mental representations that could lead to perceiving rejection and hostility in interpersonal relationships, and to further interpret relationships as being untrustworthy and unpredictable. What the participants experienced in this study is consistent with what has been reported in psychoanalytic literature; fatherhood is defined in connection to the father's function in the Oedipus complex where his function as an intrapsychic construct, also known as the "internal father," and their involvement in child development. It was concluded that in post-apartheid South Africa, numerous factors such as high levels of unemployment, poverty, and inequality are amongst the major determinants of family disruptions particularly among the Black people. The situation is exacerbated by the burden of HIV/AIDS and violence-related mortality. The family and parental practices have been significantly affected leaving so many children growing up without biological fathers, either through rejection or premature death.